The 25 Million Dollar “Ramp”

by Nicole Delmage

The federal government has awarded Boulder County $25M for what amounts to “getting ready” to retrofit more than four hundred homes per week over the next three years.  Why do we need money to get ready?  Seems like an awful lot of preening.   Apparently, we do not have a local work force that is trained to do this many energy efficiency retrofits within this time frame.

“Ramp-up” means to make a smooth transition to some higher and more desirable place (my definition).  Being in the same family as “leg work”, “R&D”, and “reconnaissance”, it is not the ultimate goal.  The role of ramping-up is to be ready for the real goal at hand: to retrofit lots of homes very quickly using a local workforce.   How will $25M be used to ensure the real goal is met with the most effective impact on the local economy?